Working elephants spend their lives felling and carrying trees. They are used in places that trucks and tractors can’t reach—in the wilderness, and in marshes. A grown elephant can lift up to 400 kg, and pull more than a ton. But harnessing the extraordinary strength of these large animals is an art in itself, passed from one generation of elephant wranglers to the next.
It takes endless patience and skill to turn a young Indian elephant into a proper lumberjack.